Walking in a Winter Wonderland
by vespertine dreams
Summary: Christmas fic. Becker gives Connor a christmas to remember. Slash- Connor/Becker. Reviews welcome.


Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Connor sighed as he read the weather report online, and it again confirmed that it would be a cold, dry Christmas. He had been hoping for a white Christmas; he loved waking up on Christmas morning to see the world outside his window covered with white snow, making everything look like the front of a greetings' card. Not that he didn't love the festive season anyway, it was just even better when it snowed.

He looked up as Becker came into the lounge and set his laptop down on the table.

"Still no snow?" Becker smiled at the miserable look on his boyfriend's face as he shook his head and went to give him a hug.

In a move that had stunned them all, Lester had given everyone Christmas week off on the condition that they all keep their phones and pagers on in case of an anomaly. It meant, however, that he and Connor had an entire week off, together.

Connor's mum had invited them over for Christmas day, and they were spending boxing day with Abby and her brother, but the rest of the time was theirs. He was just hoping that no anomalies appeared, forcing them to go into the ARC.

"Right, come on," he said, getting up and pulling Connor to his feet. "It's time to go."

Connor frowned. "Where?"

"It's a surprise," Becker told him. "Now go and put on your warmest clothes and coat, and don't forget your gloves."

"Why?"

Becker rolled his eyes. "Because if you don't, you can't have your present."

Connor brightened at those words, his eyes gleaming. "Present? But it's only Christmas eve."

"Well, in my family, it was a tradition that you got to open one present on Christmas eve," Becker informed him. "Now do you want it or not?"

----------

Connor felt a little ridiculous as he got out of the car, all bundled up in his coat, hat, scarf and gloves, especially as it wasn't even that cold outside. He wasn't the only one, though; anyone seeing him and Becker would have thought they were planning an arctic expedition. He looked around at the disused airfield and realised that he had been here before. In the car he hadn't been paying much attention, too busy playing twenty questions and promising various favours if Becker would tell him what his present was. He hadn't learned anything except that military men were pretty much immune to blackmail and pleading.

He watched as Becker took a backpack from the car and slung it over one shoulder and then followed him into the deserted aircraft hanger at the end of the field.

"Dev, mate, thanks for this," Becker said, making Connor see that the building wasn't quite as deserted as he had first thought. Dev Rashid stood with Mark Andrews, Becker's second in command, near to the shimmering ball of light that hung in the air before them. Now Connor realised why this place looked so familiar. They had come here to investigate an anomaly about three months ago. When it had showed no signs of closing on its own, they had used the anomaly sealing device to lock it off.

Andrews grinned at him and then at Connor, making him wonder what they knew that he didn't, and then tapped in the code to open the anomaly up.

"Hang on, we're going through?" Connor asked. "Has something happened? I thought you said I was getting a present?"

Becker took his hand. "You are. Come on."

"Lester'll kill us if we go through and it's not an emergency. You know how stressed he gets about us going through the anomalies."

"What Lester doesn't know won't hurt him," Andrews pointed out, Becker nodding in agreement.

"And what if it closes? It's been open for ages."

"Sarah checked it out. She said that, if anything, it has been getting stronger for the past month," Becker told him. "And, before you start worrying about that, we never did find any kind of threat on the other side, remember?"

Connor relented, his curiosity winning over in the end, and followed Becker through the anomaly. Looking around, couldn't stop the grin that spread across his face, despite the freezing temperature.

"Snow!"

Becker shifted the backpack more comfortably on his shoulder. He was watching his boyfriend with a smile on his face; it was like watching a little kid, seeing Connor getting so excited about the snow. Behind them the anomaly shimmered against the bright whiteness. His soldiers were going to wait on that side of the anomaly, just in case anything did happen; getting them to help him out on Christmas eve had cost him an undetermined favour to be cashed in at a later date but it would be worth it.

"This is brilliant," Connor enthused, looking up at the clear blue sky. Despite the snow on the ground, there wasn't a cloud in the pale blue sky, the sun actually shining down on them. He turned and threw his arms around Becker. "I can't believe you did this. You are the best boyfriend!"

He hadn't come through the anomaly the first time, when they had first investigated it. Lester had deemed it unnecessary since no creatures had come through. They had determined that it led to a period at the very tail-end of the last ice age, as the world was just in the process of transforming into something similar to today.

They walked for a little while, heading for the cliffs that lay to the east, rising high toward the sky, and providing a small amount of shelter. Connor was still skipping about happily, enjoying the crunch of the snow under his feet. He was glad that Becker had made him wear so many layers of winter clothes as, despite the sun, it was so much colder than back home. His breath came out as fog in the air and his nose was freezing but he was having fun.

Noticing that Becker had reached the cliffs, Connor hurried to catch up with him, getting there just as Becker swept the snow off some of the larger rocks near to the cliff base and spread a thick blanket over them. He sat down and Connor joined him.

"I love my present," he said.

Becker smiled. "This isn't your present, or not your whole present, at least."

He rummaged further into the backpack and came up with two plastic wineglasses and a bottle of champagne. After setting the glasses down, he produced a Tupperware box and put it down also.

"Champagne and," Connor looked inside the box, raising an eyebrow, "ooh, rum truffles! I love these. And Christmas cake, and brie and crackers. All my favourites."

"I know. That's why I brought them."

From where they were sitting they had a view out over the snow-covered lands, the tree line along the southern side of the flat plains. It was peaceful there, with nothing moving except the foliage. There had been no sight of any animals save for a couple of creatures flying in the distance, their wide wings allowing them to glide on the air currents. Nothing came close, however, meaning that they were uninterrupted.

"I have one more thing for you," Becker said, taking something else from his backpack.

Wordlessly, he handed the little red box to Connor, watching his face as he unwrapped the bow and opened it up.

"Is this what I think it is?" Connor asked, turning those wide brown eyes to Becker.

Becker nodded, meeting Connor's gaze. "Marry me?"

"Of course I will!"

Connor launched himself off the rock and into Becker's arms, leaving Becker no choice but to catch him. He held tightly to Connor, keeping him in his lap as Connor kissed him senseless.

"This is the best Christmas present I've ever had," Connor said, still grinning from ear to ear. He pressed another kiss to Becker's lips. "I love you- have I mentioned that?"

Becker nodded. "I think you might have," he teased, "But feel free to keep telling me."

----------

They walked back through the anomaly exactly three hours after going through and found the two soldiers waiting. Dev locked off the anomaly again before they both looked over the two shivering men. They had arranged to return after three hours but they couldn't have stayed much longer anyway. The cold, which had been tolerable when they first arrived, had become uncomfortable after a while.

"So?" Dev needled. "Come on, man, we're dying to find out."

Becker smiled at him, pulling Connor in to his side. "Yes."

The two soldiers came to them, offering their congratulations and walked with them out to the cars.

----------

The following morning, Connor let him and Becker into his parents' house. They had arrived earlier than expected due to the fact that he had been awake since just after four am. He was just too excited to sleep.

"Connor, sweetheart, come on in. You too, Becker," his mum said, shepherding them toward the lounge.

Connor smiled when he heard her say that; it had taken her a while to get used to calling Becker by that name. Only when Connor had explained to her that he didn't like being called his given name of Hilary had she given in.

"You look a little flushed," she commented, studying him. "Is everything alright?"

Feeling Becker's arm slide around his waist, they both held out their hands to show the simple white gold bands around their fingers.

"Mum, dad, we've got something to tell you…"

------

End.


End file.
